QueryTrackerBlog

Friday, October 29, 2010

Our recent contest with guest judge literary agent Joan Paquette was a huge success. We had over 600 entries!

I am currently going through the forms to be sure all fields were submitted properly. I will send an email to all contestants whose entries were missing elements. If you do not hear from me, it means your entry is complete and ready to forward to Ms. Paquette on Monday.

I am not sending an email to all contestants because that is a LOT of emails--over 600 and only a few are not complete.

We are excited about the response and grateful to Ms. Paquette for accepting so many entries.

Please do not contact Ms. Paquette or the Erin Murphy Literary Agency directly regarding the contest. Winners will be posted here, on the blog, and put directly in touch with Ms. Paquette once she has selected the winning pitches.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at marytlindsey@gmail.com

It's been a terrific week here at QueryTracker.net! First, why not pop over to the main site and check out our one new agent listing this week, Barbara Galletly of Georges Borchardt, Inc. We've also recorded three new Success Stories this week. Congratulations to our members who received offers of representation!

On Wednesday, we opened our contest for children's, MG and YA fiction for Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and 600 of you entered before it closed on Thursday. We'll announce the winners as soon as we have their names. We're so proud of all who entered and the quality of the entries.

We also have some very exciting news about one of our group bloggers! Carolyn Kaufman has begun blogging at Psychology Today! Her blog is Psychology for Writers: Insights for the Writer.There she delves into how writers can use psychology effectively in their stories, as well as how they can improve their creativity, writing process, and productivity. Please join us in congratulating her on this great honor and wonderful opportunity to share her understanding of psychology with writers (and similarly to share the psychology of writers with psychologists -- we all admit we're a strange breed.)

NaNoWriMo

November 1st marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, that special time which makes writers sweat, asking one another the perennial question: will they take the challenge to write a novel in a month? If you've never done it before, NaNoWriMo will both challenge and startle you as you push yourself beyond what you thought you could produce in a single month. For those of you who answer the call, good luck meeting your goals, and remember to have fun!

You Are What You Read

Scholastic Books has launched a networking site called You Are What You Read, where you can give them you "bookprint" (the five books which most influenced your life) and connect with others who share a similar bookprint. There is a version for adults as well as one for kids. You can also share information about your favorite books with other readers.

Kristin Nelson talks about how your tracked changes may show up in your submission to an agency. (I want to note that this happened to me with my own agent. The bug seems to be that Google Docs reads the Microsoft Word metadata and reproduces it in-line with the text itself. This may happen even with changes you were not tracking. In order to avoid this, either save your document in RTF format (and then re-save it as a .doc) or else copy it into a text reader like NotePad or TextEdit, and then cut and paste it back into Word again. On the agent's side, if the tracked changes are showing up, they will disappear on opening the document in Word.)

"I never write exercises, but sometimes I write poems which fail, and then I call them exercises." -Robert Frost

Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) andThe Boys Upstairs (this December from MuseItUp). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The contest officially closed at 9:00 AM Eastern Standard Time today and the form is no longer operational. Thanks to everyone who entered.

The response time and announcement of the winners (who will receive full and partial requests from Ms. Paquette) will depend on the number of entries. The more entires, the longer it will take--one of the pitfalls of not having an entry cut-off.

Ms. Paquette hopes to have the results within two weeks. I'll give updates as to her progress, and the winners will be notified directly via email as well.

Good luck to all who entered!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them in comments or email me at marytlindsey@gmail.com

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency is judging the contest.

The contest entry window is 24 hours and will end at 9:00 am Eastern Standard time on Thursday, October 28th.

You may pitch more than one project, but be certain all projects are complete, edited and polished enough to present to an agent.

Submissions must be made via ouronline submission form. (A free QueryTracker.net membership is necessary to use the form and can be accessed from the form page.) Only entries received through the online form will be accepted. Entries emailed directly to the agent or agency will be disqualified.

This contest is for completed children’s projects only.The genres include children’s literature from picture books and chapter books through middle grade and young adult novels of all sub-genres. NO ADULT NOVELS OR PROJECTS as this agency only represents children’s fiction including YA.

Ms. Paquette wants to receive one-line pitches and the first 100 words of your manuscript (+ or – half a sentence. Don’t just end mid-sentence).

The response time and announcement of the winners (who will receive full and partial requests from Ms. Paquette) will depend on the number of entries. The more entires, the longer it will take--one of the pitfalls of not having an entry cut-off. Ms. Paquette hopes to have the results within two weeks. I'll give updates as to her progress and the winners will be notified directly via email as well.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them in comments or email Mary at marytlindsey@gmail.com.

Best of luck to everyone and special thanks to Ms. Paquette for judging.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Agent Joan Paquette from the Erin Murphy Literary Agency will judge our contest that opens tomorrow, Wednesday October 27th at 9:00am Eastern time and ends 24 hours later at 9:00am Eastern time on Thursday, October 28th.

EMLA represents children's literature only, so no adult projects in this contest, please.

Ms. Paquette wants to see a one-line pitch and the FIRST 100 words (plus or minus 1/2 sentence--don't just cut it off mid sentence) of completed children's picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, or young adult novels.

Because Ms. Paquette does not accept unsolicited queries, this is a great way to get your work in front of her.

A form will be activated and a link will be posted on this site at the start of the contest tomorrow morning.There is no advantage to being one of the first to enter as we will accept all entries submitted within the 24-hour window.

* Please note: Sometimes the email notifications from this blog do not go out right when the post is published (a Google Blogger issue we cannot control). If you are an email subscriber, please realize this email might arrive after the contest has begun.We have given weekly reminders of the contest on the Friday Publishing Pulse. In addition, the information has been posted in the sidebar of this blog for close to a month.

Monday, October 25, 2010

A good story is like a well-tuned car. When everything works well, you can just get in and enjoy the ride. When your headlights don't work, the muffler has fallen off, and your trunk is being held closed with a bungee cord, the problems are all you can think about.

Here are some tips to help your readers enjoy the ride rather than worying about the springs sticking out of the seats.

1. Mechanics

You’d never take your car on the road if the tires were full of holes. So don’t send out your manuscript without perfect mechanics: grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

I see a lot of writers who expect their crit buddies or beta readers to fix their mechanics, but those writers are cheating themselves. They’re never going to get an in-depth critique that will help them make their story better. Nobody worries about critiquing plot, characterization, or dialogue when they’re reading work by someone who misuses every other homonym.

If you’re not good at grammar, that’s okay. Take a class at your local community college or buy/borrow some reference books. Strunk &White's The Elements of Style and The Chicago Manual of Styleare great resources to rely on until great grammar and punctuation becomes second nature to you.

2. Tightening

When a reader says you need to tighten your writing, she means you need to remove clunky, extraneous words and phrases. Often they're hard to see until you know what to look for, but they rattle around like loose screws. Here are some tips to help you find and get rid of them.

a. Use strong verbs rather than adjectives and adverbs.Example:She flung the door open is better than She pushed the door open forcefully.

b. Remove redundancies.Example:“What were you thinking, you idiot?” he said irritably tells us that the person is angry twice — once through dialogue and once through a verbal tag. Just stick with the dialogue and cut the verbal tag completely.

c. Say everything as efficiently as possible. Pretend that you’re being charged for every word you use. Don’t you want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth?Example:He walked right up to her, so close they were nearly touching, trying to intimidate her with his size becomes He moved closer, using his size to intimidate her.

d. Avoid cliches. We often use cliches because they so often fit. "Prim and proper" or "tall, dark, and handsome" may very well fit your characters. The problem is, they fit a lot of other people's, too, and since you want your story to stand out from the rest, you need to make your descriptions unique.Example:It was raining cats and dogs becomes It was raining, huge warm droplets that pattered on the blacktop like thousands of tiny feet.

3. A Fresh Coat of Paint: Being Unique

When you go to buy a car, you want the most mechanically sound car you can find, but if you're like most people, you also care how it looks. You can really make your writing stand out if you can find unique ways to say things. Don't be afraid to indulge in a little wordplay, trying out unusual turns of phrase or comparisons.

a. Indulge in the sensory details. For each scene, you need to close your eyes and imagine how the situation smells, tastes, sounds, looks, and feels. You probably won't describe each sense in most scenes, but knowing will help you choose the most relevant and striking details.Example:Like soft, dark wings, his voice folded around me. I was at once enveloped by warmth and aware of coldness at the base of my neck. Legs stretched out in front of him, feet braced apart, he was watching me.

b. Use metaphors and similes. Don't be afraid to compare something to something else, directly or indirectly, as long as you do it in your own words.Example:A traffic light flashed by; the wire that had once held it aloft eddied across the road in a black tangle. Green and red and gold chips were spattered across the asphalt like misplaced casino currency.

Want to learn more? A few books that have really helped me get better at editing my work include

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyDwrites fantasy, scifi, and nonfiction. She loves helping writers "get their psych right" in their stories, and her book on the same topic,THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behaviorisnow available for pre-order. Learn more about the book at theWGTP websiteor ask your own psychology and fiction questionhere.

Friday, October 22, 2010

So I was in Michaels (the craft store) the other day, and they were setting up the Christmas stuff. I guess I should be impressed that it took them almost to Halloween to get to it -- a lot of places start getting out the trees come the first week in October.

In any case, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or something else, holidays are the season for gifts! If you (or a writing buddy) have always wanted a premium membership to QueryTracker, the holidays are a good excuse to get one! Did you know that you can purchase, print, snail mail, or email a QueryTracker.net gift certificate from http://querytracker.net/gifts.php?

Agent Judged Contest on the QueryTracker Blog!

Don't forget! Our next contest will be on October 27th and will be for writers of children's projects only, including middle grade and young adult fiction as well as work for younger readers down to picture books. Agent Joan Paquette from the Erin Murphy Literary Agency has agreed to be our judge. This is a great opportunity to get your work in front of Ms. Paquette because she does not accept queries outside of referrals or personal contact (conferences). Details on the contest can be found here.

Finally, over on the Blood-Red Pencil, read about how one author learned that Sex is Revealing...about, to her surprise, character.

Did you find any posts (written by other people) this week that you thought were particularly good? Share them in the comments!

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyDwrites fantasy, scifi, and nonfiction. She loves helping writers "get their psych right" in their stories, and her book on the same topic,THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behaviorisnow available for pre-order. Learn more about the book at theWGTP websiteor ask your own psychology and fiction questionhere.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

One of my favorite things about fairy tales is that all of the princes tick off not-so-innocent old women, and end up as frogs. There's something wonderful about the journey. Boy starts out as a prince, sometimes spoiled, and looking for adventure. Then the boy finds adventure in the temper of a little old woman with a pointed stick. Many times he finds that his idea of adventure is not the same as living one. And of course, True Love's Kiss makes things better. Eventually.

How does this apply to writing? There's the obvious answer of being able to take out Real Life frustrations on hapless, imaginary people. And while this can help sometimes, my favorite is the second reason: change.

Great stories, and history for that matter, all hinge on change. The story isn't in it when everything's balanced and peaceful. That's the end--or the beginning--of the story. The story is about the change that happens, that upsets the balance, and requires the characters to act, to respond, to live, and to change. That's what a good
story's all about: taking a character and a set of circumstances, knocking them off their feet, and watching to see what happens.

One of the most important things about change is growth. The character at the beginning of the story should not be the same character at the end. The character may act and look the similar to how he/she was at the beginning of the tale, but there needs to be a difference in who they are, or how they see the world. omethSing the reader can see and relate to. Something that shows that the tale did more than mark time--that it marked a person or a society, real or imagined. If the characters aren't the same at the end of the story, chances are good that the reader won't be either. And isn't that part of what makes a good story so good--the reader becoming part of the ink and paper until the story becomes part of them?

This also compares to the manuscript itself, and not just the story. How many wonderful ideas there are floating around, waiting to be written. And how many of those ideas somehow become frogs in the process, flawed and in need of some serious intervention to bring them to their greatest potential? Again, it's the journey that works about the transformation from manuscript full of holes and inconsistencies to a story that uses words to effect change, to provide a glimpse through a window into the author's world, and a little bit into their soul. Some manuscripts have fewer warts than others, but all require time, dedication, work, and the courage to kiss *dedicate one's self* to something that might not look too promising on the surface. But the rewards of puckering up are always worth it.

Which brings us to a true fact of life: not all frogs are princes in disguise. Not all stories exist to be published. Some exist to show the author that they can sit down and hammer out thousands of words from "Once upon a time," all the way to "And they lived happily ever after." Some exist to show the author how much effort is truly required to find a prince. And some exist as guideposts in the author's life, small maps that show the past, and what the future can hold.

What are some of your frogs? Ones that have become tall, dark, and handsome, or simply remained small, green, and slimy?

Do your characters change through the story? And does the story change you?

Danyelle collects dragons, talking frogs, and fairy godmothers in her spare time. She is currently getting ready to query SLIPPERS OF PEARL, a YA fantasy. She also enjoys making new friends, and can be found at http://myth-takes.blogspot.com.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Have you ever noticed that we writers tend to lack confidence in our abilities? We often feel like frauds, terrified that someone will figure out we have no actual idea how to write. We think that because we don’t outline the way someone else does, or have perfect grammar within our phrases that we are somehow flawed. We equate our rejections with failure, and the time it takes us to get an agent or sell a book as proof that we have no idea what we are doing.

In short, we feel like an imposter.

This Imposter Syndrome, as it is sometimes called, happens frequently with gifted women and creative types – and I think the cause may lie in the actual attributes of both giftedness and creative personalities.

Like gifted people, writers and other artists struggle with a level of emotional intensity that can make ordinary feelings very overwhelming. This applies to the positive feelings – joy, happiness, bliss, satisfaction – and the negative feelings – anxiety, bitterness, jealousy, and anger.

I think it’s the intensity of the feelings that, when unmanaged, can lead to a lack of confidence and self-doubt.

Let’s look at the few trends I see when my writer friends and I chat:

Self Esteem – A lot of us struggle in this area. We tend to measure our successes against each other, allowing the rejections to get the better of us. We forget to seek our strength inside.

At these moments, we need to remind ourselves why we write in the first place – remind ourselves of the courage it takes to not only craft a story, but put it out there and query it. It we cherish that courage and strength, we can refocus our perspective and a lot of the esteem-zappers we face day-in and day-out will melt away.

Praise – Yeah, we don’t get a lot of constructive praise in this business. Sure, most of us have our cheerleaders that pick us up when we are down. But they tend to offer general praise, which feels good but really does not help us when we are feeling like a fraud. What we need is specific feedback on our skills.

Objectively looking at both our strengths and the areas we can work on is a great way to combat some of the problems with lack of constructive praise. Creating an action plan that allows us to build on our strengths and work on our weaknesses is another great way to combat our lack of confidence.

Emotional Intensity – As I mentioned before, gifted people are not the only group prone to intense emotions. Creative, artist types are as well. This level of emotional intensity will often tip the scales, making the natural struggles with confidence that most people feel into something huge and overwhelming. At these times we will often fall into the trap of comparing ourselves with others, connecting rejection with “I’m a lousy writer.” Trust me, I know how easy it is to do this.

Instead we need to remember to be objective. Ask our CPs and other writer friends for specific feedback. Ask them to remind us about ourselves, especially when we can’t find it ourselves. We will still be intense, but that intensity can be harnessed as creative energy instead of a confidence vortex.

So what’s the bottom line here? I believe that it is the very nature of being an artist tends to lend itself to periods of waning confidence. Talking about it with friends, remembering why you write in the first place and having a realistic view of your abilities is a great way to combat these moments and let them go.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Our next contest will be on October 27th and will be for writers of children's projects only, including middle grade and young adult fiction as well as work for younger readers down to picture books. Agent Joan Paquette from the Erin Murphy Literary Agency has agreed to be our next judge. This is a great opportunity to get your work in front of Ms. Paquette because she does not accept queries outside of referrals or personal contact (conferences). Details on the contest can be found here.

New Agents Added to the QueryTracker Database

Several new agents and publishers have been added to or updated on the QT Database recently. Check out the box labeled "New and Updated Listings" on the front page of the main QueryTracker.Net site and view their profiles for website links and genres they represent.

QueryTracker Member Receives 8 Offers of Representation!

Congrats to Michael Winchell who recently signed with Brenda Bowen of Sanford J. Greenburger and Associates. You can read his success story here and read about his road to publication on his personal blog.

Tips, News & Other Interesting Info from Around the 'Net

I found the following articles interesting and relevant for QueryTracker members:

QT started a new monthly email newsletter and the first issue came out August 1st. The newsletter contains agent information, articles of interest to authors seeking representation, and highlights ways to use QT in your agent search. If you haven't subscribed already, it's free at http://QueryTracker.net/index.php.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Sending out queries can be grueling, and when you hit upon an agent who wants a partial, it can feel like you've struck gold. And of course, once you've gotten a taste for that gold, you want some more! So how do you figure out which other agents will be likely to request partials? Well, you could throw darts at a list of agents (which probably won't do you much good), or you can take advantage of QueryTracker's Similar Tastes Report.

Here's how we do it: By tracking which agents have requested particular manuscripts, we can compile a list of agents who tend to like the same books. In other words, since Agent A liked your query enough to request a partial, and since these other agents like the same kinds of things as Agent A, you know that querying these other agents should result in some read requests.

Even better? You can filter the Similar Tastes results by genre, making it possible to get even more detailed results.

The Similar Tastes Report is available to premium members, and can be viewed by going to an agent's profile and clicking the "Reports & Statistics" tab. From there, select the Similar Tastes Report and your chosen genre and click "Generate Report".

Have you used the Similar Tastes Report yet? Let us know what you think, and of course we're always open to your suggestions for new QT features!

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyDwrites fantasy, scifi, and nonfiction. She loves helping writers "get their psych right" in their stories, and her book on the same topic,THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behaviorisnow available for pre-order. Learn more about the book at theWGTP websiteor ask your own psychology and fiction questionhere.

Monday, October 11, 2010

In honor of October, I think a horror story is in order--at least for fellow perfectionists!

I slump back in my chair, caressing the last two words I just wrote with my eyes.

The End.

I can't believe it. After 60,000+ words and many brushes with death and disaster, most of my characters survived to see those two glorious—magical—words. It was the moment they've been waiting for ever since I first began tortur—exploring their story.

The end.

I bask in its light, feeling slightly giddy and exhausted. This is it. I've done it! I've finished the freaking novel that's been hounding me to give it a voice ever since I came across it leaning against a back alley wall with a nonchalant, devil may care look on its face.

I hit "Save" one last time, gleeful and happy. And then I tuck the story away for about a month and focus on Other Things. (And by Other Things, I mean things like other stories. Laundry and dishes are on the to-do list. Somewhere. Probably.) Every so often I dream of the day when I'll pluck it up and drop it off of its electronic branch into the realm of my out box where it will brush against the sky as it soars toward the sun. Because, I mean, what's not to love? My characters and I gaze at each other fondly and share a quiet smile.

And then the month passes by and it's time for me to open the document again. I pull up the story, the sweet memories of yesterday fresh on my mind. And then I pause.

Hrm.

The light isn't nearly as bright as I remember it, and everything seems smaller somehow. Unsettled, I peer around the corners into the nooks and crannies of the story only to find sheets of lacy cobwebs and the mummified remains of plot bunnies that didn't quiet make it out to the green pasture before I tucked the story away. Dust coats nearly everything, giving my story a surreal, fuzzy feeling. I search in vain for the story I remember, but find only this.

Cobwebs and dust:

oft repeated phrases

flat description, stilted dialogue

inconsistencies

places where it's clear the characters are as clueless as their author

verbs that are so full of pip and vinegar they burn a hole through the page

grammatical accidents

places that lose both me and the reader

characters not acting like themselves

And then I see a gleam. A very small, very weak, bit of light. I crawl forward, hoping that whatever made the webs has either cleared out or is lying among the plot bunny remains. I rub my thumb across the surface, revealing something golden and gleaming beneath. Aha! There is something here. I knew it. But then I look around in despair. How on earth am I going to clear everything away until the story gleams like a newly made star?

Go through the manuscript two to three times. The first sweep is to gauge the effort that's going to be required to fix the story up. Make notes and doodle faces at myself. Then go through a second and third time to employ those changes. The story transforms before my eyes. And while it maybe wasn't as good as I thought at first, this is where I learn that the story isn't nearly as bad as I feared.

Employ the first round of betas. I cannot stress how important it is to have a trusted group--large or small--that can go through and point out all the cobwebs and corners I missed. Something that's really helped me, both with the query and the story, is to send the query first and see what they think before I send out the manuscript. Not only does this help me see whether I've got the right focus or a gaping hole in a mildewed wall for the query, but it also forces me to determine whether I've paid attention to the right things for the right amount of time in the story itself. While they're letting in the light, so to speak, this is where I start tightening my query.

Go through the manuscript again. Evaluate the suggestions and ideas. Don't shirk from the ones that mean the most work simply because more effort is required, but don't incorporate them unless they serve to strengthen the story overall. This is when I remind myself that what doesn't kill me can be put in my next novel and used to torture my characters.

Listen to my story. There's nothing like hearing the story out loud. This can be done a number of ways. I could read it out loud, employ one of my minions to read it to me, or have my laptop read it out loud. Check the query again. Is it breathing yet or still lying there on the table all bent limbs and smelling worse than the dump at the height of summer?

Send it off to another group of betas. For some reason, whenever I send out a manuscript, my confidence heads for parts unknown. This is generally a good time to focus on the Other Things as well as returning the beta favor.

Read through the critiques. Part of me is smacking my forehead that there are still cobwebs I missed, but the other part is feeling elated that the cobwebs are now more like a few forgotten doilies than a force to be reckoned with that clogs the story. Check the quer--is it me or did the query just twitch?

Go through and make the changes that scrub and polish the story to a high gloss. This is generally where I print the story out and go through chapter by chapter, hunting for even the suggestion of dust. And then I peer out and realize I'm standing at the edge of a cliff my arms full of imaginary people stuffed full of paper hearts. Do I open my arm and give them a chance to fly or pull them back and give them a few more lessons on aerodynamics first? This stage is always the tricky one for me, but ultimately it comes down to listening to my gut and those I trust most--not because they tell me what I want to hear, but because they tell me what I NEED to hear.*

And that's it. What once began as a hodgepodge of various bits and pieces of my internal universe now blazes out of the sky at me. The cobwebs and dust incinerated in the soft glow of the sunset.

What kinds of cobwebs do you find lurking between the pages of your story?

*What happens after: I go with my gut and open my arms wide. I watch as my characters, my story swirl on the wind. Some of them, I know, will smash into rocks, be eaten my bugs, and used by birds to line their nests. But some, I am equally sure, will find the right air current and find themselves lifting and gliding rather than gritting their teeth for the crash landing. Because, after all, stories were meant to fly.

Danyelle collects dragons, talking frogs, and fairy godmothers in her spare time. She is currently getting ready to query SLIPPERS OF PEARL, a YA fantasy. She also enjoys making new friends, and can be found at http://myth-takes.blogspot.com.

Friday, October 8, 2010

We know you're dying for the new agent-judged contest (judged by literary agent Joan Paquette) but you'll have to wait for October 27th. Use that time to polish up your first hundred words and your one-line pitch! You can read the details here.

QT Speed BoostSubmitting to agents may be a long process, but at least searching for them has gotten faster. On Thursday, the QT server was upgraded. It now has double the RAM and computing power as before, making it that much faster for you to find your future agent.

Also, check out the two new success stories from the QueryTracker community!

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." -W. Somerset Maugham

Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) andThe Boys Upstairs (this December from MuseItUp). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

I first met Michael Onesi on the QueryTracker Forum before he began querying his project, Four Word Film Reviews, which was snatched up right away. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy pre-release and enjoyed it thoroughly. It's on my teen son's nightstand right now and is one of those books that's perfect to read in short bursts. It's broken down by genre and has thoughtful brief synopses of each movie before the four word blurbs, so even if you haven't seen the film, the reviews and descriptions are still funny.

The Associated Press called Four Word Film Reviews "brilliant," The Los Angeles Times described it as "clever," and the Miami Herald deemed it "insanely addictive." I couldn't agree more. I pick it up every time I pass by to read a four word blurb or two and it never ceases to make me smile.

I'm pleased Michael accepted my invitation to describe his book for us. We appreciate his time and wish him great success.

* * *

When I tell people I’ve co-edited a book called Four Word Film Reviews, the reaction is usually the same – confusion. Most people can’t believe you can sum up or review a movie in four words or less.

But the book, which I co-edited with Benj Clews (founder of the Four Word Film Review website), is proof that Roger Ebert’s and Leonard Maltin’s 800-word reviews are about 796 words too long. A good writer can say a lot with a little.

“Not super, not bad” for Superbad. “Transforms $9 into disappointment” for Transformers. “Heath Ledger’s clowning glory” for The Dark Knight.

Get it now? All it takes is a few examples and people start to understand.

Anybody can come up with a four-word film description, such as “Big boat hits iceberg” for Titanic or “Balloons lift senior’s home” for Up. But those are easy and boring.

The real challenge is to create a four-word masterpiece. The book is filled with funny puns (“Icy dead people” for Titanic), double meanings (“Inflation causes housing crisis” for Up), clever word play (“Shrink shrinks Damon’s demons” for Good Will Hunting), and opinionated reviews (“Four? Yes. Fantastic? No.” for The Fantastic Four). Some reviews aren’t reviews at all, merely four-word jokes (“I bet Kramer wins” for Kramer vs. Kramer and “Actually, mission is possible” for Mission: Impossible) but they make readers laugh so they were included in the book.

Novels can be summed up quickly, too. Here are a few examples of reviews of movies based on books:

“Apes understand. I didn’t.” 2001: A Space Odyssey

“Orwell’s notorious P.I.G.” Animal Farm (1954)

“The Good-Buy Girl.” Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

“Much credit to Isla.” Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

“Stephen King unleashes terror.” Cujo (1983)

“Pitt turns life around.” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

“The Immaculate Deception.” The Da Vinci Code (2006)

“Greatest Story Never Told.” The Da Vinci Code (2006)

“Hanks: You’ve Got Grail!” The Da Vinci Code (2006)

“Wolf in Streep’s clothing.” The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

“Room with a spew.” The Exorcist (1973)

“Doctor making a living.” Frankenstein (1994)

“Better Rhett than debt.” Gone With the Wind (1939)

“A Farewell to Farms.” The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

“Students take up spelling.” Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

“School for wiz kids.” Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

“Slaved by the Bell.” The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

“Claude Rains is unwatchable.” The Invisible Man (1933)

“Gone with the Fin.” Jaws (1975)

“T-rex isle dysfunction.” Jurassic Park (1993)

“Peter Jackson shoots JRR.” The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

“Sequel with familiar ring.” The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

“Three. Ring. Serkis.” The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)

“You’re watching Big Brother.” Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

“Nut tries to bolt.” One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

“Typical male never matures.” Peter Pan (1953)

“Nicholson: stark raving dad.” The Shining (1980)

“Teens have necking issues.” Twilight (2008)

So my fellow Query Tracker writers, if you are looking for a break from cranking out your 100,000-word manuscript, try writing a few four-word film reviews and submit them to www.fwfr.com.

Who knows, you may be published in the next FWFR book.

* * *

You can find out more about Michael Onesi on the FWFR website. The book can be purchased on Amazon and in bookstores across North America.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A Note from Carolyn (Archetype): Today's article is a continuation from yesterday. It teaches you to use top secret therapy techniques to defeat the Inner Critic, that nasty little voice that tells us our writing is no good and we'll never get published. Be sure to visit Part I!

All of us have an inner Critic; unfortunately, its voice tends to be particularly strident when we sit down to write. “You’re no good at this,” it says. “Your ideas are stupid. Why would anyone want to read what you wrote anyhow?” Or maybe it waits until you’re actually pounding away at the keys. “That’s not the right word,” it announces. "You’re doing a terrible job of getting what’s in your head on the page. How can you call yourself a writer?”

Yesterday we talked about how the inner Critic undermines our writing, and how to start identifying when it's talking to us. Today we're going to talk about how to really fight back.

Exercise 2: D-E

After you’ve filled up your A, B, and C columns (see Part I), you’re going to add the D and E columns.

D stands for Dispute.

In the D column, you're going to pull apart the Critic's assertions and dispute them.

The D takes some effort, but it’s worth it; if you’re able to practice, this will become second nature.

Questions to ask yourself as you dispute the Critic’s claims:

What evidence do I have that [what you wrote in the B column] is true? (Be sure to tackle one Belief at a time, not all of them at once!)

What evidence do I have that [what you wrote in the B column] isn’t true?

Is there another explanation?

What would I tell a friend if she said these things to me?

What would that mean about me if this were true?

What effects are these thoughts (the Critic’s words) having on me?

Is it reasonable for me to be so hard on myself for this?

What would happen if I changed the way I was thinking?

If it’s really a problem, what can I do to make it better? (Should I take a class? Join a writing group? )

Pretend you’ve got your Critic on the stand in a court. How are you going to convince a jury that it’s a liar?

E stands for Evaluate Effects.

In the E column, you're going to check in to see how you feel.

A
Activating event

B
Beliefs/thoughts

C
Consequences

D
Dispute

E
Evaluate Effects

What happened?

What’s the Critic saying to you?

What is it trying to make you think or believe?

Your feelings as the Critic talks

Looking at the Critic’s assertions more carefully and disputing them

Checking in to see how you feel.

Example:

Example:

Example:

Example:

See below

Received a rejection slip

I don’t know why I even bother sending out queries, I always get rejection letters. Obviously I don’t have any talent and I just look stupid to everyone who sees my work. I should just give up and admit I’m no good.

Hopeless, depressed, hurt, angry, worthless

What evidence do I have that I'm a failure? well, all these rejection letters.

What evidence do I have that I'm not? Well, my friends say they like my stories, and I did win that award back in college...

What if I never got published? Would it kill me? No, but I'd feel bad. I guess I have to focus on how much I enjoy writing...

Well, I bother because I really care about my writing and would like to get published. But I write for myself first, because I enjoy it. As much as I want to get published, it's a process and I'm going through the same thing most writers do--even the ones I admire the most! I just have to keep working to get better. Maybe I could go to that writing conference I heard about...

Secondary Gain

One of the toughest things about Disputation is that it’s much easier (and in a backwards kind of way, a lot more fun) to wallow in self-pity. I genuinely believe that sometimes we need to wallow a little, but put a limit on it. If you take more than a day or two, you're just avoiding the problem.

Also be careful not to take your frustration out on a partner or friend. Wallowing for a little while is fine. Torturing someone else with your wallowing isn’t.

Rewriting

After you’ve put together your Disputation, re-evaluate how you feel. I like clients to take an extra step and re-write the original critical statement into something more balanced and positive. For example, if your original statement was something like “I’m a miserable failure as a writer,” after your disputation you might realize places that’s not true (or that it’s not as bad as you're telling yourself), so you rewrite the thought as “If I never get published, I’ll feel sad, but lots of famous writers got hundreds of rejection slips; what made them special was that they never gave up in spite of that. Even though they sometimes feel personal, they’re not rejections of me or even necessarily true rejections of my work--they’re just telling me that my work isn’t right for that publication right now, not that it’s terrible. I need to keep looking to find my work the right home.”

Whittling the Critic Down to Size

Remember, the Critic has spent a long time teaching you to believe a lot of bad things about yourself and your writing, and it will take time and practice for you to learn new thinking patterns. When you think something over and over, your brain actually aligns molecules in such a way that it’s easier for that thought to occur. The only way you’re going to disconnect that chain of molecules is to refuse to go over and over and over that thought. Instead, you create a new chain that says something more realistic.

You may want to practice these new statements a few times a day. Stick them on the bathroom mirror or over your writing desk. Say them out loud. Tell the Critic.

Remember those old cartoons where a big scary shadow would appear on the wall and the hero would cower in terror, only to have a teeny little mouse come around the corner? That’s what the Critic is like. It casts a big scary shadow, but if you shine some light on it and confront your fears, you’ll find that the Critic itself is just a little pipsqueak.

And now you have the skills you need to handle that pipsqueak!

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyDwrites fantasy, scifi, and nonfiction. She loves helping writers "get their psych right" in their stories, and her book on the same topic,THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behaviorisnow available for pre-order. Learn more about the book at theWGTP websiteor ask your own psychology and fiction questionhere.